Archived on 6/5/2022

Royal mail ‘left with neighbours’

Beige
24 Nov '18

Does anyone ever find their postie left a package at the neighbors? If so is it ever left at an address other than next door?

My postie has, at least as far as I can remember, never left a parcel at the neighbors. There is usually someone local willing to take it and the usual couriers always find someone, but I end up having to pay a visit to the collection office.

Londondrz
24 Nov '18

We had issue with our post being delivered next door and vanishing. We asked neighbors across the road who we knew if the post could be left with them and then had a word with the postie, no issues after that.

starman
24 Nov '18

https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/delivery-to-neighbour/

Beige
24 Nov '18

This says they’ll try to leave it with a neighbour. If that’s true then I don’t think they try very hard, at least on my street.

starman
24 Nov '18

Nor with mine either. There was a time they wouldn’t even deliver to a neighbour. I would prefer for them to leave it in a safe space.

ForestHull
24 Nov '18

Royal Mail always try and deliver in the middle of the day and then leave a red card and take anything back to the delivery office for me. It’s a bit inconvenient to be honest.

Amazon trend to deliver in the evening which is better, but sometimes leave the parcel with a neighbour without noting which one!

Other couriers seem terrible, throwing things over the back fence, leaving them at the front door, or endlessly trying redelivery. Hermes seem pretty bad.

DPD have a nice app that tracks the deliveries in real time and allows you to upload a photo of your property to help them find it.

The best delivery option I’ve ever had is to get things delivered to work so they turn up at my desk. But not all companies are cool with this.

Forethugel
24 Nov '18

My absolute favourite is the “left parcel in your safe place (bin)” card, not having ever declared such a place as safe to anyone. Even better finding such a card after returning from holiday!

Sherwood
25 Nov '18

I often find the “Sorry we missed you” card even when I am in.
I think they start writing the card as soon as they press the bell and post I when they have written it.

ForestHull
25 Nov '18

Yeah, I’ve had the same experience… they might knock with a feather too :slightly_frowning_face:

clausy
25 Nov '18

Amazon usually drop it at the neighbour’s (or more recently leave it on the doorstep - remarkably no one has stolen any of my packages yet, even if we’re out all day).

Royal Mail usually leave a card and so it’s a late Wednesday or weekend pickup at the depot.

GillB
26 Nov '18

Our regular postman who delivers parcels & then does the walking route, bangs on the door so loud (you can hear it when he is delivering to neighbours across the road) that you can’t miss him! He has left parcels with me if I look out & offer to take it in. He does let the addressee know as well. I have occasionally had a note saying a parcel is behind the bin. You can track Royal Mail parcels as well now.

clausy
26 Nov '18

For those of us who might not be home, we always appreciate neighbours who accept parcels!

ForestHull
26 Nov '18

Agreed. The neighbors that take my parcels usually gets a little Christmas pressie from my house.

GillB
27 Nov '18

Funnily enough, it obviously wasn’t our regular postman today as they had tried to deliver something for me @ 11.30 & I wasn’t in (the regular one always delivers between 7-8.30 am) & so I’ve got to go to the sorting office tomorrow. :grimacing:

Irmani_Smallwood
28 Nov '18

To be honest I’d rather pick up from the sorting office. Whilst some of our neighbours are simply lovely, others are decidedly not and I would rather have a Weds evening where I am slightly put out than deal with people we are unfortunate enough to live next door to!

Beige
28 Nov '18

Here’s the rub - I live in SE6 (pls forgive my presence here - I am just a few feet from SE23 :wink:). That means I have to trek over to Bromley Road and that means I either have to (often) sit in traffic for 10+ mins or walk for 50 mins (I like walking, just not spending 50 mins on the task).

ForestHull
28 Nov '18

Ha! Royal Mail once left me the wrong card, so I treked over there too, only to be told my parcel couldn’t possibly be at that depot and I had to go back to my usual place!

All couriers seem to make mistakes though it’s only Royal Mail who seem to think it’s okay to give me a bundle of circulars through my letter box once a week :frowning:

Moto_Hodder
29 Nov '18

Back in my old flat in Bermondsey, I caught a postman sticking a car through the door. I chased him down the path to let him know I was in and it transpired he never had the parcel with him in the first place. I lived 5 minutes walk from the sorting office.

starman
29 Nov '18

You must have a huge door.

armadillo
29 Nov '18

I’ve had the same experience here as well. I guess posties on a regular route get to know who’s likely to be in and who’s likely to be out - and stack their bag appropriately. (Especially in busy periods like the run up to Christmas, I would imagine that their bags get very full very quickly)